At wits end with dd's bedroom!!

[barkley]

you want to gross your kid into cleaning their 'sty'? sit them down and have them watch one single episode of a&e's 'hoarders'

it was very enlightening for my dd when she realized all the disgusting stuff that could be happening UNDERNEATH those piles of dirty laundry and accumulated papers.

i'm not saying we have a rodent problem but like anyone else we've had the odd mouse appear in the house or garage. knowing this and seeing on that show how mice can get in and start reproducing in piles of clothes and old papers was just the ick factor that got dd a bit more proactive on keeping things picked up.

 

[darlak]

My youngest child is 15 and her room is also a total mess. My older kids are 30, 25 and 22. Two of those 3 are girls and they kept their rooms exactly the same way as teens. (My son, bless his heart, kept his room cleaner than I kept the rest of our house!)

Raising teens is a 'pick your battles' kind of undertaking. This isn't a battle I'm willing to take on, but that could well be beacuse experience tells me that I won't win. Or maybe I should say that the only way I ever seemed to be able to win that battle was to stay vigiliant every single day, and honestly, it just isn't worth it to me to do that. I have more important battles to fight with her...like "animals are living breathing creatures and as such must eat every single day!" Now that's a battle I'm willing to fight daily!

I am proud to say that the older two girls do a pretty good housekeeping job in their own homes.

 

[dawson5]

you want to gross your kid into cleaning their 'sty'? sit them down and have them watch one single episode of a&e's 'hoarders'

it was very enlightening for my dd when she realized all the disgusting stuff that could be happening UNDERNEATH those piles of dirty laundry and accumulated papers.

i'm not saying we have a rodent problem but like anyone else we've had the odd mouse appear in the house or garage. knowing this and seeing on that show how mice can get in and start reproducing in piles of clothes and old papers was just the ick factor that got dd a bit more proactive on keeping things picked up.

make them watch how clean is your house on bbc america. Those ladies take on some stuff, take the swabs and send them away to tell you what you are wallowing in. <shudder>

 

[joyjoy]

I once ventured into the black hole of my (then) 15 y.o.'s bedroom to look for something and I found a 1/2 full open can of peaches with a fork in it and fuzzy green mold an inch thick growing in it. So disgusting. Could she not SMELL it? Makes me sick to think of it.

She's much better now. At that age, they're just gross.

 

[HunnyPots]

I let a lot of things go that are not especially important one way or the other, such as hair styles, clothing styles, music, etc. but one thing I refused to give in on was the filthy room! It has never been negotiable in our house - you will make your bed and pick up your room every day and do a thorough cleaning once a week or so. Period. No, they didn't like it. So? It's my house and those are my rules.

And thank you to the poster who brought up fire safety issues. Definetely a point to consider.